Justin Timberlake Apologizes For Reaction To Criticism After Praising Jesse Williams’ BET Speech

Justin Timberlake, like many, was impressed with Jesse Williams’ speech on racism at the BET Awards and took to Twitter to share his feelings. But, after tweeting a dismissive reply to a critic, Timberlake was forced to offer an apology.

Justin Timberlake Apology

On Sunday night, Timberlake retweeted Questlove, who wrote, “Can [Jesse Williams] run in 2016?” The singer also tweeted at the Grey’s Anatomy star, “#inspired.”

When a Twitter user accused Timberlake of being an artist who appropriate’s black music and culture, the singer replied, “Oh, you sweet soul. The more you realize that we are the same, the more we can have a conversation. Bye.”

In the hours that followed, Timberlake was inundated by messages from people who felt as though he was speaking from a place of privilege when he wrote that “we are all the same.” Timberlake opted to formally apologize on Twitter, for what he believes was largely a misunderstanding.

“I feel misunderstood. I responded to a specific tweet that wasn’t meant to be a general response. I shouldn’t have responded anyway…I forget this forum sometimes,” he wrote. “I was truly inspired by @iJesseWilliams speech because I really do feel that we are all one… A human race. I apologize to anyone that felt I was out of turn. I have nothing but LOVE FOR YOU AND ALL OF US.”